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BalaWHAT?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Balabusta is a Yiddish expression describing the good homemaker among Ashkenazi Jews.

In my teens and twenties, it would be fair to describe me as the anti-balabusta. I did not cook, I rarely cleaned and I had no intention of starting to do either, much to my grandmother's dismay. My Nana was supportive of my feminist world view and my staunch independence, but she also not so secretively worried about my marriage prospects. Who wants to marry a woman who can't keep house?! Who indeed.

I met my husband at thirty and we quickly set up house. I found myself actually caring about the state of our home. I wanted Shabbat dinner to be special. I discovered that not only can I cook, but I don't hate doing it and I'm quite good at it. I excel at chores like maintaining a budget and the family calendar.

Sometimes, when I'm on the phone with my Nana telling her about the dinner I'm making she'll say, Lisaleh, you are a regular balabusta! Who would have guessed?